Nearly 100 Illegal Aliens Nabbed at Two Stash Houses in Texas

A Border Patrol agent's vest in Eagle Pass on July 15, 2021. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers apprehended almost 100 illegal aliens inside two stash houses in Laredo, Texas, during a 24-hour span last week, the agency announced on Sept. 28.

Officers nabbed more than 50 illegal aliens from Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras in a stash house discovered on Ligarde Street on Sept. 23. The next evening, CBP officers followed a tip about illegals being housed on Philadelphia Street to discover another stash house. Inside that residence, authorities found more than 40 illegal aliens from Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.

CBP noted that all of the illegals were given face masks prior to being processed.

“The substandard conditions typically encountered when stash houses are found can foster a breeding ground for illnesses or other communicable diseases,” CBP said in a statement on Sept. 28.

Border patrol agents have discovered and dismantled 400 stash houses this fiscal year, resulting in the apprehensions of 7,400 illegal aliens in the Rio Grande Valley. The illegals tend to be from  Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. A stash house disrupted in August was run by two U.S. citizens with extensive criminal records, CBP said at the time.

In late May and June, CBP dismantled six stash houses over the course of less than a week, leading to the capture of 173 illegal aliens.

U.S. authorities have apprehended more than 1.2 million illegal border crossers this year, a number unseen in years. Many more evade capture.

Border Patrol agents have arrested 8,691 criminal aliens coming across the southern border in the past 10 months. Among them, the aliens have committed 12,685 crimes.

On Aug. 14, border agents in south Texas arrested two MS-13 gang members. One, a convicted murderer from El Salvador, was apprehended after illegally crossing into the United States with a group near Mission, Texas. The 44-year-old man had spent three years in prison for a murder in California in the late ’90s and was imprisoned again in 2005 for “re-entry of a deported alien,” according to CBP.

Many criminal aliens are arrested while trying to evade Border Patrol or as they attempt to blend into large groups crossing the border. While Border Patrol agents are tied up dealing with large groups, the cartels and criminal organizations smuggle contraband and people through unpatrolled areas nearby.

Several Border Patrol agents told The Epoch Times that agents estimate they’re apprehending 10 to 20 percent of all illegal border crossers, although it’s impossible to estimate how many have avoided detection and capture.

Charlotte Cuthbertson contributed to this report.